Rockie Toner was born in 1940 and raised in Des Moines, lowa. She received a BA from the University of Northern lowa and an MA and MFA from the University of Illinois. Toner was on the faculty of Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Temple University, for 30 years. The last 13 of those years she served as the Dean of the school.

My work grows out of a fascination with the dynamics of nature and the ways in which I see human interactions mirrored in the natural world. I refer to these social, sexual and gender dynamics variously as nature, pleasure and innuendo or ebb and flow. I explore these tensions and interactions through abstract forms, patterns, textures and colors. The drawings are relatively small and are intended for close viewing, they are meant to be contemplative and intimate.

Almitra Marino David was born in Pittsburg in 1941. She studied for a year at the University of Madrid, received a B.A. in Spanish from Dickinson College, 1963 and an M.A. from Kutztown University, 1974. She taught Spanish at Friends Select School, Philadelphia. Her poems and translations have been published in various journals. Her chapbook, Building the Cathedral, was published in 1986, and her first book, Between the Sea and Home, 1993 won the Eighth Mountain Press Poetry Prize. The selected poems in the exhibition are from her second book of poetry Impulse to Fly.

Almitra David and Rochelle Toner were life partners from 1981 until Almitra's death in 2003. During that time they worked on several poetry and artwork collaborations. Most notably two extensive portfolios, Annie Crow Road in 1988 and Io Drinks Coffee in 2002. The subjects for Almitra's poetry ranged widely, using as a point of departure current news stories, Greek mythology, human dynamics and nature.